Elite Communication and the Popular Legitimacy of International Organizations

Abstract This article offers the first systematic and comparative analysis of the effects of elite communication on citizen perceptions of the legitimacy of international organizations (IOs). Departing from cueing theory, it develops novel hypotheses about the effects of elite communication under the specific conditions of global governance. It tests these hypotheses by conducting a population-based survey experiment among almost 10,000 residents of three countries in relation to five IOs. The evidence suggests four principal findings. First, communication by national governments and civil society organizations has stronger effects on legitimacy perceptions than communication by IOs themselves. Secondly, elite communication affects legitimacy perceptions irrespective of whether it invokes IOs’ procedures or performance as grounds for criticism or endorsement. Thirdly, negative messages are more effective than positive messages in shaping citizens' legitimacy perceptions. Fourthly, comparing across IOs indicates that elite communication is more often effective in relation to the IMF, NAFTA and WTO, than the EU and UN.

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Historical analogies under dispute: Reactions of Israeli Jews to analogies between the Holocaust and the plight of African asylum seekers in Israel

Memory Studies ◽

10.1177/1750698020907942 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 175069802090794

Author(s):

Gal Ariely

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Population Based ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Historical Events ◽

The Holocaust ◽

Historical Analogy ◽

Population Based Survey

This article examines the characteristics that shape different public reactions to analogies of historical events while emphasizing the role of national identity. It analyzes responses by Israeli Jews to comparisons between the situation of African asylum seekers in Israel and Jews during the Holocaust via a letter written by Holocaust survivors against the proposed forced deportation of asylum seekers in 2018. A population-based survey experiment conducted during Holocaust Remembrance Day was used to evaluate whether attitudes toward the expulsion of asylum seekers were affected by the analogy. The findings showed differential responses to the analogy, including acceptance, rejection, and ambivalence, which demographic characteristics, unlike aspects of national identity, do not explain. It was also found that participation in Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations was positively related to acceptance of the analogy. The overall conclusion is that responses to historical analogy are determined more by an individual’s identity and not by demographic factors.

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Institutional sources of legitimacy for international organisations: Beyond procedure versus performance

Review of International Studies ◽

10.1017/s026021051900007x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 45 (04) ◽

pp. 627-646 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Lisa Maria Dellmuth ◽

Jan Aart Scholte ◽

Jonas Tallberg

Keyword(s):

Global Governance ◽

Population Based ◽

Economic Security ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

International Organisations ◽

Climate Governance ◽

Security Governance ◽

And Performance ◽

Legitimacy Beliefs ◽

Population Based Survey

AbstractThis article addresses a significant gap in the literature on legitimacy in global governance, exploring whether, in what ways, and to what extent institutional qualities of international organisations (IOs) matter for popular legitimacy beliefs towards these bodies. The study assesses the causal significance of procedure and performance as sources of legitimacy, unpacks these dimensions into specific institutional qualities, and offers a comparative analysis across IOs in three issue areas of global governance. Theoretically, the article disaggregates institutional sources of legitimacy to consider democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of procedure and performance. Empirically, it examines the effects of these institutional qualities through a population-based survey experiment in four countries in different world regions with respect to IOs in economic, security, and climate governance. The findings demonstrate that both procedure- and performance-related aspects of IO policymaking matter for popular legitimacy beliefs. This result holds across democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of IO procedure and performance. Disaggregating the results by issue area indicates that a broader scope of institutional qualities are important for legitimacy beliefs in economic governance compared to security governance and, especially, climate governance. These findings suggest that propositions to reduce the institutional sources of IO legitimacy to single specific qualities would be misguided.

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Effectiveness of Incumbent’s Strategic Communication during Economic Crisis under Electoral Authoritarianism: Evidence from Turkey

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055421000587 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

SELIM ERDEM AYTAÇ

Keyword(s):

Economic Crisis ◽

Strategic Communication ◽

Population Based ◽

Political Agenda ◽

The Political ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Issue Area ◽

Economic Downturns ◽

Electoral Authoritarianism ◽

Population Based Survey

To minimize damage to their popularity during economic downturns, rulers in electoral autocracies can draw on their propaganda advantage to keep the economy off the political agenda or shift the blame to other actors. How successful are these strategies in swaying citizens’ views? While electoral autocrats frequently resort to these strategies, there is surprisingly little evidence about their effectiveness. To address this gap, I took advantage of the recent economic crisis in Turkey and deployed a population-based survey experiment that mimicked incumbent’s use of these strategies. I find that incumbent’s efforts of shifting the blame fail to elicit intended effects among large parts of the electorate. In contrast, changing the political agenda away from the economy to an issue area that is more favorable for the incumbent is more effective for shoring up popular support. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms that help sustain electoral authoritarianism.

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Ethnicity and religiosity-based prejudice in Turkey: Evidence from a survey experiment

International Political Science Review ◽

10.1177/0192512117696333 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 58-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

S. Erdem Aytaç ◽

Ali Çarkoğlu

Keyword(s):

Local Population ◽

Relative Size ◽

Population Based ◽

Intergroup Attitudes ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Religious Identities ◽

Threat Perceptions ◽

Intergroup Conflicts ◽

Prejudicial Attitudes ◽

Population Based Survey

Threat perceptions and prejudice underlie a large number of intergroup conflicts. In this article we explore prejudicial attitudes in Turkey regarding ethnic Kurdish and devout Muslim religious identities as opposed to Turkish and less observant, secular identities. Utilizing a population-based survey experiment, we use vignettes about a hypothetical family as a neighbour, with randomized ethnicity and religiosity-related cues. We find evidence for prejudice against Kurdish ethnicity, especially among older, lowly-educated and economically dissatisfied individuals. The level of prejudice against Kurds does not seem to be related to the relative size of the Kurdish population in the local population. We do not observe prejudice against devout Muslim or less observant, secular identities. Our findings indicate that prejudice against Kurds in Turkey does not have a sui generis nature. The lack of prejudice across the religiosity dimension suggests that major socio-political cleavages do not necessarily affect intergroup attitudes.

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Measuring personal beliefs and perceived norms about intimate partner violence: Population-based survey experiment in rural Uganda

PLoS Medicine ◽

10.1371/journal.pmed.1002303 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. e1002303 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Alexander C. Tsai ◽

Bernard Kakuhikire ◽

Jessica M. Perkins ◽

Dagmar Vořechovská ◽

Amy Q. McDonough ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Population Based ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Personal Beliefs ◽

Perceived Norms ◽

Population Based Survey

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The credibility of scientific communication sources regarding climate change: A population-based survey experiment

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/0963662519840946 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 534-553 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luis Sanz-Menéndez ◽

Laura Cruz-Castro

Keyword(s):

Science Communication ◽

Scientific Information ◽

Personal Characteristics ◽

Scientific Communication ◽

Population Based ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Business Associations ◽

Population Based Survey ◽

National Representative Sample

This article analyses whether different institutional sources of scientific information have an impact on its credibility. Through a population-based survey experiment of a national representative sample of the Spanish public, we measure the credibility that citizens attribute to scientific information on the evolution of CO2 emissions disclosed by different institutional sources (business associations, government, non-government environmental organisations, international bodies and national research institutions). The findings show that an institutional credibility gap exists in science communication. We also investigate the factors accounting for the credibility of the different institutional sources by examining variables related to knowledge, interest, trust, reputation, deference, attitudes, values and personal characteristics. Exploratory regression analyses reveal that identical variables can produce different effects on the credibility of scientific information, depending on the institutional source to which it is attributed.

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THE MEANING OF GRATIFICATION, MORAL CREDENTIAL, AND THE VALUE OF SELFLESSNESS ACTION IN VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY A RESPECTED PERSON

Jurnal Psikologi ◽

10.14710/jp.19.4.373-387 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 373-387

Author(s):

Ni Made Martini Puteri ◽

Hamdi Muluk ◽

Amarina Ariyanto ◽

Bagus Takwin

Keyword(s):

Significant Relationship ◽

Population Based ◽

Statistical Correlation ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Group Support ◽

Criminal Punishment ◽

Social Reactions ◽

Experiment Method ◽

Definition Of ◽

Population Based Survey

This study aims to prove how kindness conducted by the group, the definition of violations and the value of doing good, can affect moral credential in the form of the leniency of punishment for corruptors. Sample 319 polices and doctors divided into two segments. This study uses a population-based survey experiment method. Participants divided into moral credential with the narrative noble duty, and non-moral credential with neutral narratives. Researchers require each participant to provide criminal punishment and social reactions to the vignette of violation cases due to receiving gratification without (study 1) and with group support (study 2). Statistical correlation test with Kendall's Tau-b finds that defining the behaviour of gratification influences punishment, the correlation shown in invisible victim is rτ = .455, p = .000, and visible victim, rτ = .191, p = .003, but there is no significant relationship between the values of selflessness action and defining the behaviour of gratification as a violation (rτ = -.006, p = .922). Through the Mann Whitney U test it was found that the moral credential and non-moral credential conditions do not affect the provision of informal social reactions to violators, both the perpetrators of gratification with invisible victims (Mdn = 2), U = 2757, p = .523, and visible victims (Mdn = 2), U = 2778.5, p = .575, and also in a situation of gratification with group support, the perpetrators of gratification with invisible victims (Mdn = 2), U = 3419, p = .937, and visible victims (Mdn = 2), U = 2978,5, p = .119.

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